Lucian couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of anxiousness as he tried to make sense of the mission at hand. This was his first true task as a member of the Penumbral Guard and for them to entrust him with such an important task was something that kind of rattled him a little to his core. It was bad enough that he had been caught up in a political move of sorts but to actually have to do this kind of thing without harming or hurting anyone and actually putting himself out there was so much worse. Granted, he had traversed through these farmlands enough to know these folks and after spending countless hours in some of their fields. He knew these people better than most even with being a new visitor to the city.

But now, Penumbral Guard was his family, and Marigold was home, so that meant these people were just as important to get along with as anyone else. Walking down the path, Lucian could see one of the many farm children take off towards their homes at the sight of him, he knew that this was going to get extremely personal quickly. Hopefully, he could finish this problem before things became out of hand.

Remember Lucian, this is not for personal gain or for the betterment of just your guild. This is for the good of all of Marigold and to bring things into a more unified front. To be a cohesive family. Walking forward, he stood in the center of the farmlands.

The intersecting section of the lands had been decorated with a small pantheon of sorts to hold meetings between the families in times of trouble. These were self-sustained people that had made their way through their problems without help from anyone, who could blame them. They were independent and strong, and now I had to tell them they were going to need help. They were going to need someone. A lesson that was truly hard to learn but he had to do the same.

He smelled them before they walked into view, four distinct smells. Farmer Jim, Homer, San, and Valor. The men walked into the pantheon, each one eyeing him slightly before taking seats on the other side of him, each man opposite of him was the father of a family and were each in charge of the farmlands outside of Marigold. The four biggest farmers and the authorities on the world that was outside of Marigold. These men would be the ones to make the decision.

Lucian removed his hood and shook his hair free, pulling some of the dreads together, he moved it slightly to reveal the guild tattoo on his neck, the white mark seemingly glowing with the hidden power. As the men noticed the symbol they equally rose to leave save for Jim but Lucian was not one to let them go so easily.

"Please. Just hear me."

"No. We have been just fine without your guilds meddling in our business. Go on." San snarled.

"Let's hear him out. He helped me when the vines attacked my farms and you know he has been around here many times." Jim stared at the others to get his point across, he looked back at Lucian the two of them meeting eyes.

Sighing they turned around and took their seats, the anger seeping from their pores. Each one had their arms crossed, and seemed to be staring off into the night air. He knew that this was not going to be a simple task. They refused to hear him. Maybe this was too much for him. Maybe he was the wrong person.

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"Listen I know you guys hate the gui.."

"If you know why are you here? It seems stupid to me." Homer snorted.

"Because I am not here to lead y'all to ruin. I am here to bring unity to the people as a whole."

"For what? We do fine by ourselves here anyway. What could you possibly do to make us believe we need you guys or anyone else for that matter." San spits into the nearby ground.

Of course. I wonder if I had sounded this dense in those times, telling people I never needed someone else or any true family. That the idea of comrades was just going to hold me back, I had grown so used to being on my own and surviving by my own will that the idea of having help to propel me further was such a foreign concept. I never had to worry about being betrayed by myself.
But others... They are fearful of change, they have been hurt before and left to burn and so they have built their lives up from the ashes by their own hands and work.

"I know how you feel. I've been there."

Lucian moved his hair to reveal the full brunt of his scar over his right eye, the savage scar was gained from fighting the very people he had come to call family, the very people he had to kill for the revenge of those that he had loved the most. Each man seemed to study the marking closely, he could feel the analyzing it and taking it in.

"I know what it means to be betrayed and to distrust all. And I promise you I would not be here if I did not believe that I could give you all the reassurance that the people I am with will not do that to you."

The four men seemed to look at each other, they were seemingly open to the concept but their faces were still visages of doubt and worry. This decision was more than just for them, it was for their families, many of them large with four children at least.
They had to protect these farmlands because these lands were more than just farms. It was their food, their homes, their wealth for generations, and in the event of their eventual deaths their burial grounds. They would become very fertilizer to the lands they had once tilled in life.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but you're an outsider. And despite what you tell us, how can we believe that scar you have is truly from that. And even if it is true what good does that give us reassurance that the merchants and aristocrats along with the bloody Syllases aren't going to use this new unity you say to manipulate us."

Valor poked his chest out, running his hands along the ground.

Lucian felt the tension in the air, the question hung in the empty space as silent began to fill the void between them. It was oppressive, his answer here could very well be the tipping point between completeness or failure.
And to mess up here could set back any possible relations between the two sides for the rest of the foreseeable future. Generations of division among the sides were decided in this decisive moment.

Standing to his feet, Lucian sat on the bench, closing the gap between the two of them. He could smell the fear on their breath. The sweat that dripped from their pores and the work from their toiling of the soil. Some smell of animal feces and others smelled of the Earth. These were men of the ground and they needed something concrete to hold on to. A tangible sign of commitment.

"I have traveled the kingdom of Fiore since I was sixteen. Spending countless nights under the stars, learning to navigate adulthood on my own. I watched my father die in front of me in cold blood. My mother was a corpse when I found her. I lost my family. I lost my peace..."

Lucian stared out into the fields, the children ran to and fro with each other. Catching flash bugs in jars and rolling in the dirt, they laughed with joyful smiles. They didn't deserve to know his hell or to do things like he once had. Looking back at the men, he could feel the emotions tremoring below the surface of his soul but he had to quell them.

"I don't want to have you all lose your peace or your families. I personally do not care for the nobility, the merchants, or the Syllas. I am loyal to the ways of the guild and myself. And my guild dictates that above all we protect those we choose to. And so by placing you all under my protection, I am giving my life in exchange for your acceptance."

The four of them stared, each one questioning the full meaning of what he just said; Standing up they turned inwardly to discuss the matters of their choice. It made no difference as his enhanced sense of hearing allowed him to pick up the faintest traces of their conversation but he didn't want to impede. After a few minutes, the men returned to the conversation. Each one took their turns and stated their feelings.

"I have seen you same my farms first hand. I am with you. I am for it. The Jim Henderson farmlands are with ya." Jim seemed to smile.

"I've watched you come and go from this place many times, and you have never truly brought trouble to our lands. I know you're a man of honor. I just pray you truly are who you say you are. The Valor Mason farmlands are in too." Valor leaned back while crossing his arms and nodding.

"My pa who is buried in the very lands I work on right now always told me a man could always lie through his teeth and with his smile, but the eyes never lied. And by your eyes, I can tell you are a decent man. You've been through a lot, and so if you truly stand on what you say. The Homer Terrance farmlands are in this too."

Homer smiled as well eager to be done with the proceedings.

"I refuse."

San Vanderson stood to his feet and kicked the bench table, the mission was for all of them and not one. Lucian watched as the man looked down on the proceedings.

"I don't care what ya been through. I don't trust the people you come from. Guilds, Mages, magic, nobles, royals. All of you were filled with tricks to manipulate the weak-minded and easily fooled. but I am not one of them. And my family will not become slaves your games."

As San prepared to leave, Lucian pushed forward lunging to meet his escape, landed in front of him. San gasped in surprise, but in his rage, he went about pulling out a knife. Watching closely as he went to attack, he disarmed the man with a quickness. Holding the blade in his hands, the anger Lucian eyes made his unique eyes become dark like purple storm clouds.

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Lucian twirled the blade in his hands, the ornate wooden handle of the blade must have been fashioned from the very trees that populated San's farms. The initials SV were engraved into the base of the handle with a golden finish. The weapon looked well kept and polished and cleary it was a family heirloom.

Holding the weapon, Lucian could see in the eyes of the man before him the eyes of a child. This probably once belonged to his father, his grandfather, and the one before him. This was not just another weapon this was apart of history. And to lose the blade would be as devastating as possibly death itself.

"You give that back. Or I...I'll."

Flourishing the blade, Lucian held the edge up to his skin, the metal gleamed in the flickering lantern lights of the pantheon, the other four watched him with weird eyes. They were perplexed but none so much as San himself, taking the weapon, Lucian felt the heat in his palm as he thrust the point of the knife into his skin.

The blood flowing down from the wound as he slit his palm down to his wrist. The men gasp in surprise as Lucian returned the blade to Sans. Taking his trickling blood, he let it fall into a corner of each of the different farmlands. His blood seeped into the soil, falling to the Earth with an audible plop. Now he was just as much a part of their crops as they were.

"Does that give you the peace you desire? Or did you want more of my blood on your lands?"

Sans returned the knife to his side and hung his head sheepishly, walking back to the pantheon the five of them sat down once again. The men stared at him in confusion Jim handing him his handkerchief but Lucian waved it off, the wound beginning to seal up again thanks to a little werewolf genealogy.

"So now what, have you placed a blood magic spell on us or something."

"No. I have merely given myself to your land. I protect my own. And now your farmlands have my blood. I am bound to them."

Sans studied the room, he was outnumbered and he knew that his perception was failing him, it was best that he went along with it.

"Fine. Any man crazy enough to slit his own skin for this clearly has it on his mind to do more good than harm. The San's Vanderson Farmland is in too."

Standing to his feet, Lucian withdrew pieces of parchment from his sack, handing that and pen to each man, the arrangement was officially put into writing. Taking the documents back, Lucian prepared to leave eager to move on from this awkward moment.

"You know you're one crazy sob right."

Smiling slightly Lucian returned his hood to his head, turning to walk backward as he left, he called out.

"I know. But at least you see things my way."

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